I love this movie so much

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

I can understand why a previous reviewer mistook this at first for a mockumentary. It is jargon-loaded, trivia-burdened, and at times downright (unintentionally) comic-pompous. Walker had a fine mellow voice for ballad singing and expressed some originality in a very few later songs, but aside from this? Why drag in everyone who knew him and/or once grooved on his music and lyrics so they can be mugshot while straining to convince us he's some kind of unsung (pun intended)phenom all of us should recognize and appreciate? If this was the intended theme and purpose of the film, it is an utter failure, suggesting the mystery of Scott Walker's life is that there is no mystery.If the film makers are trying to make some other point (as is achieved in better music bio films), it's not clear what that might be. It doesn't help that some of his incomprehensible pseudo-poetic lyrics are scrolled in the background.Several of the commentators are as embarrassingly inarticulate as Walker's own more "advanced" lyrics are. (Are we sure this isn't a mock-umentary?) Where was the director/editor in all this rambling? Off somewhere grooving on Walker's earlier recordings? Interestingly, the most intelligent comment comes briefly from Sting when he begins to talk about the dark side of romanticism, etc. It's a shame he (or somebody) wasn't given more time to explore the significance of Walker's life. Scott Walker was not one of the greatest musical/poetry talents of the last forty years, but surely he deserves better than this inept bio-film.

Watching this movie created a strange feeling in me.For quite a few minutes into this film, I though it to be a mockumentary in the style of "This is Spinal Tap". A teenager (in a band) in the late sixties, I thought I new quite a bit about the music of the time.Yet, in spite of the film's obsessing of Walker's work and its impact, I had no recollection of him whatsoever. I thought the film was a joke.Only when the story began to weave in interviews from people I knew did I begin to think this might be a factual story. Then, when I heard "The Sun Aing't Gonna Shine Anymore", I recognized a hit I had heard (my after-the-fact research shows that the Walker Brothers had only two top 40 hits: this one, which reached #13, and an earlier one "Make It Easy On Yourself" which reached #16 in 1965 and 1966).So I became convinced Walker was real--for a while. As I listened to some of Walker's stranger efforts I again thought the film might be a put-on. The two hits I mentioned? I began to think they were done by another group (or even Engelbert Humperdinck, whose voice is similar to Walker's).In the end, though, Walker is very real. As to rather the film is a put-on, you'll have to see it and make up your own mind. Some of Walker's music is very interesting (the spacey, avant garde stuff is unusual and unlike anything I've heard). Some is just nice, soothing pop (the two hits). Most of it does not stand the test of time well.So there's the rub, the reason I rate this film only 4 stars, and the reason the film is not as enjoyable as it might have been. The producers' intentions are vague and the true spirit of the film is impossible to discern for certain.At the outset, had they mentioned the subject of the film was very real (even though we might not have heard of Scott Walker) and put the film in context, things might have been different. Instead, they seemed to assume we'd all know him, admire his work and think of him as an icon. We don't know whether they're making fun of Walker, of us, or both.Perhaps things are different in the UK, but in America, Mr. Walker is not an icon, even though perhaps it could have turned out otherwise.

Scott Walker, one of the most talented, exciting and exceptional figures in the history of music, has been avoiding the attention of the media for ages. This film does not provide you with the much sought after information about his personal life (which I would have found very interesting, I admit), but instead focuses on his music, which, of course, is much more important. There are a lot of talking heads, mostly famous musicians and people from the music business, listening to Scott Walker's music and describing their impressions and the significance it has for them. Naturally, the most fascinating thing about the movie is Scott Walker himself and the metamorphoses he went through in the course of his musical career, drifting more and more in dark and abstract directions. I would highly recommend the film to anyone who likes Scott Walker (if you do not know who he is, hear some of his music, preferably beginning with the 60s).

I have been a fan of Scott Walker's work since I was a girl and have continued to follow his work, following all the strange twists and turns his career went on and I have been following this film carefully since I heard it was being made and when I finally saw it I was mesmerized. Scott is so present in the film and the music is given the priority, not his personal life. I think it's a real achievement to get someone like Scott to open up and the film seemed so intimate without dispelling any of the great mystery that swirls around him, which is part of his mystique, it's part of why we love him, in addition to his amazing voice and music! I happen to like a lot of the artists in the film and thought their impressions of his music were touching, honest and sometimes funny and insightful...but they never detract, and Scott is really the center of gravity in a film that presents his music in such a visually stunning way, I can't imagine anyone not falling under its spell. I recommend it for any fan of Scott Walker's music and any fan of music at all, he's one of the greats that needs to be fully recognized the world over, and I think this film will help that happen.